Galatians part 1

If you have your Bibles please turn to

Galatians 1:1–3 (NIV)

Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead—and all the brothers and sisters with me,

To the churches in Galatia:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,

We are going to start a new study on the Book of Galatians. This letter is one of the most important letters that Paul wrote and it is probably only second to Romans. In fact many consider this to be a mini Romans.

Centuries after Paul wrote this letter it would play a pivtol role in the Reformation, it was actually called the “cornerstone of the Protestant Reformation"

The Epsitle was most likely written in about AD 48 just before the Jerusalem Council that is described in Acts 15

The purpose of this letter was to fix a desperate situation in the church. Judaizers had come behind Paul and discredited his teachings. So this letter was a call back from the law to grace, from legalism to faith. It is a statement of slavation by faith apart from works. This letter has a message that we still need to do in the church. So let us dive into the letter.

Galatians 1:6–8 (NIV)

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!

This was the dire situation that the church in Galatia foudn themselves. They had quickly deserted the teachings that Paul had instilled in the church. They had turned to a different Gospel. Which of course was in fact in Gospel at all.

I don't want to spend a lot of time rehasing what I spoke about a couple of weeks ago when we looked at the book of Jude, but I do want to share a few of the different theologies that you can hear today. A lot of these are simply half truths upon which people build out a belief system

Jesus is a model for living more than an person to Worship

Again these are half truths, Yes Jesus is a model for how we should live. This is why He is called the second Adam. But He is also our Lord and Savior deserving of worship. Isn’t this why we meet every Sunday, in order to worship. By the way everyone worships something in their life. God has put worship into the very core of our being. It is only right that we worship Him

Gracious behavior is more important than right belief

Talk about how Jesus wsa towards the Pharisee. Then talk about how He went to the sinners but never left them in their sins

Biblical claims are linked to prescientific worldviews

This one actually dates back to the early 1900s. Many people do not know this anymore but science and Christianity used to work hand in hand. The field of science grew because Christians studied the world around them because they wanted to know more about God and His creation. Now today these two things science and the Bible are very seperated.

Is it personal sin or is the system broken ?

Man has struggled with this since the fall. Humans have wanted to create a uptopia apart from God for thousands of years. Each one has had disastours results. Why is the world broken? Is it because we are sinners? Or is the system itself broken and that is why people are broken? The Bible teaches us that it is sin that broke the world. It is sin that separted us from God. Sin is what Jesus sets us free from. Jesus did not come down and fix the Roman system of government. He came down and should us how to live in a broken world. The only utopia that will exist is when all of this world is said and done and we live in the New Jersulaem with the Father.

These are just a few of the false teachings that you can find being taught in churches. Yet Paul tells us that we ourselves or even angel cannot and should not change the message of the Gospel. which brings us to our next point and it is an important one

Galatians 1:10 (NIV)

Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

All of us at one time or another become people pleasers. We want people to like us. It is a normal human thing. However when it comes to following God and His word. We must understand that at some point when Jesus calls us home; we must all giving an accounting to God.

The downside to people pleasing is that we no longer have accountability to God and we lower the standards upon which we base our own lives. In terms of the Gospel, we lower the standards upon which God wants us to live and base our lives on.

Jesus is and will always will be a lighting rod for people because He is convicting. Many people walk away from Jesus because He convicts them of the sin in their lives. That is a tough thing to deal with, we have all been there. We have all been humbled by God and convicted to follow Jesus.

The other dangerous path of people pleasing is that you have no guiding path in your own life. Following the world is a no “win “ proposition. Because the views change constantly. God never changes, when we set out each and every day to follow God, there is a guiding light that you can follow.

Paul continues about the origin here

Galatians 1:11–12 (NIV)

I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.

This is an incredibly important statement. The Gospel is not of human origin. This is the belief that you must wrestle with and it will determine how you view Jesus and the entire narrative of the Bible. Paul is telling the Galatians that the Gospel was recieved from Jesus. When you believe that the Gospel is from Jesus one part of the Holy Trinity, then your only conclusion can be that the word of God is the word of God.

Here is the central part of the message today. We are called and we have a past.

Galatians 1:13–17 (NIV)

For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being. I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus.

Paul persecuted the Church. His entire life was caught up in being a Pharisee. Now notice one thing here that Paul says. He doesn't say he was zealous for following the Old Testament but he says for the traditions of his fathers. That is a very important distiction. We must be zealous for Jesus, not just church traditions. We must uphold the Scriptures not traditions nor should we look to create new ones that contradict scriptures.

Paul had a past before Jesus. We all have a past before Jesus. It is what you do with that past that determines your future with Jesus. Every one of us have made mistakes and will continue to do so. There is not a lot known about why Paul went to Arabia for three years. This is my speculation. He had to reconcile and heal his past in order to proceed in the calling of Jesus to go preach. Your past can do 2 things for you. It can become a powerful testimony of the working of God in your life. Or you can never heal from it and it becomes what keeps you from fullfilling your purpose in your life.

Paul had spent his life doing what he thought was right. Then he meets Jesus on that face road on the way to Damascus. In an instance he knew he had gotten it wrong. That is not an easy thing to come to grips with. But Paul is convicted by Jesus and Paul changed. Paul looked at his life and he didn't believe it to be a waste. He used his life as a testimony to the power of Jesus.

Galatians 1:21–24 (NIV)

Then I went to Syria and Cilicia. I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. They only heard the report: “The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” And they praised God because of me.

He goes out on his first preaching trip and look what happens. People praise God because the person that was trying to destroy the church was now preaching the Gospel. Do no underestimate the power of Jesus to work in your lives. Jesus works to give you the life that God wants you to have and then through that working Jesus works on other people in your lives. Paul's testimony did not save anyone. Jesus did that, but Paul's testimony opened people's minds to following Jesus. Because only a few years before this man was trying to destroy the church and now here he is preaching the word of God.

This is what happens when we put God first. There is a heiarchy in this world. God is always first. When we put Him first everything else will fall in.

Matthew 6:33 (NIV)

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

When we look to God and not people we can find the answers that we look for. When we look to God for the power to heal who we were and to create us into a new being in Jesus then we see the true power of the Gospel. The life we live now is in preparation for spending eternity with the Father.

Let us pray.